


Ornithophobia

by dinosaursonparade



Category: Jurassic Park (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-05 03:32:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1089101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaursonparade/pseuds/dinosaursonparade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I bet you'll never look at birds the same way again."</p>
<p>After encountering the pterodactyls on Isla Sorna, Alan is always on the alert.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ornithophobia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedevilchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/gifts).



Ellie had planned to wait until dessert to bring it up. After all, Alan had sounded so gratified when they spoke on the phone, and it was reassuring to her just to see him, after almost losing him. Again. But she couldn't let it go any longer.

Alan was unable to take his eyes off the large glass windows, looking out over the Atlantic. Ellie had chosen the restaurant deliberately for this reason, and she sighed, then held out her hand, placing it on his wrist.

"Alan," she said. He looked up, and it was obvious he was somewhere else. If Ellie had to place a bet, she’d say he was about two hundred and seven miles west of Costa Rica.

“Sorry,” he said, and he tried to smile. It didn’t work.

“Alan, people are worried about you,” Ellie said, as bluntly as she could. “You’re shutting them out, your students, your colleagues, your friends - ”

“So you scheduled some sort of intervention for me? Is that what this is?” Alan asked. Outside, the seagulls cried. He twitched.

“They thought I could get through to you,” Ellie said. “Look, Alan, no one is discounting what you saw, what you experienced - ”

“They’re migratory,” Alan said firmly. “And it’s only a matter of time until they migrate somewhere a little more densely populated.”

“You don’t know that,” Ellie said, sounding as if she could make him believe her if she said it forcefully enough. “They’re working on a solution, a containment plan. We have technology now that we didn’t have in ‘93.”

“Nothing’s going to change unless they raze all of Central America,” Alan muttered darkly, and Ellie held up a hand.

“Stop. I know you wish it were going faster - we all do - but this is an international issue and it will take time to resolve. And Alan, this isn’t about the pterodactyls. It’s about the birds.”

“Did Billy put you up to this?” Alan asked. “Don’t bother answering. I’m sure he did.” He made as if to get up from the table, even though their food hadn’t even arrived.

“Alan.” Ellie used her ‘Mom’ voice then, the one that made Charlie stop dead in his tracks and listen.

Alan settled back down, and gave her a grim look.

Ellie was impervious to grim looks. “I know you’ve been through a lot - more than anyone would expect to get through without a few battle scars - but you have a phobia, Alan, and it’s crossed the line from caution. It’s unreasonable and it’s adversely affecting your everyday life.”

“Did you get that straight from the DSM?” Alan growled.

“I didn’t need to. Forget Dr. Phil, Oprah could diagnose you,” Ellie said. “The point is, Alan, you need to get help. I know you probably think seeing a therapist is out of the question - ”

“It is,” Alan agreed.

“ - but you have to get help from someone. So that person’s going to be me.”

Alan looked at her warily.

“Ellie, I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he said.

“They’re going to be baby steps, Alan,” Ellie said. “I promise. Would I lie to you?”

“Yes,” Alan said bluntly. “And manipulate me, because you know I’d try anything for you.”

“Oh, that’s sweet,” Ellie said, even as her heart gave a little twinge. If things had been different… But she would never trade the life she had now, with Mark and Charlie. 

“What are you going to make me do?” Alan asked.

“Charlie and I are going to the zoo tomorrow,” Ellie said, with her most innocent smile. “The Bird House, specifically. We need a ride.”

“Oh, no,” Alan said, shaking his head. “No. Not this time.”

“You don’t have to go in,” Ellie promised. “We’re taking baby steps, remember? I’ll wait outside with you while Charlie goes in. You won’t have to see any of them. Just wait there for a few minutes and listen.”

“You want me to go stand outside an aviary and listen to birds?” Alan repeated. The waiter, arriving with their lunches, threw Ellie a funny look.

“That’s right,” Ellie said. “Every day this week, if you’re not busy. You’re not busy, are you? I heard you’d taken a sabbatical for the rest of the semester.”

“And let me guess,” Alan said, stabbing his fork into the salad viciously. “Then the next thing I know, you’ll want me to go inside it.”

“Well, yes. That’s how it works,” Ellie said.

“And they’ll be swooping down on me, squawking, taking a sh- ” Alan continued, warming to his subject, and Ellie cut him off.

“We don’t use that word, Alan,” she said. “And no. Not yet. That’s only in the Indoor Flight Exhibit. In most of the Bird House, they’re behind glass. Like an aquarium.”

“Not like any aquarium I’ve ever been to,” Alan muttered. He glared across the table. “I study bones, Ellie. Bones. I don’t need to be in close proximity to birds in my daily life.”

“You can’t avoid them forever either,” Ellie said. She folded her arms and glared at him. It was a stalemate, but she knew she would win. She always did. It was one reason - just one - that she’d had to leave in the end. It was for his own good.

“I can try,” Alan insisted, and then he looked up at Ellie sharply. “So that’s your plan? A week outside the bird house, a week dragging me to look at them through the glass, and then you’ll put me in the aviary?”

“Not until you’re ready,” Ellie said. “But yes. Eventually.”

“Damn pterodactyls will be halfway to Washington by then,” Alan said sourly.

“I’m not sure any pterodactyl is going to migrate north in the fall, Alan,” Ellie soothed.

“No,” Alan said after a moment. “No, I guess not.”

The seagulls sounded again outside. Again, Alan flinched back. This was going to take time.

Ellie opened her mouth to say something comforting, something reassuring, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.

Alan smiled humorlessly. “I don’t deserve you, Ellie,” he said.

“No, you don’t,” she agreed. 

“But if things had been different…” he said, then let it trail off. He shook his head, took a drink of water. “Then again, if things had been different, Mark Degler wouldn’t have been around to get my ass off of Isla Sorna in the first place, would he?”

“Probably not,” Ellie agreed.

“I’ll drive you and Charlie to the zoo whenever you want,” Alan said. “Maybe he’ll start calling me something other than the dinosaur man.”

“We would like that,” Ellie said, smiling.

Alan gave her a half-grimace. “Maybe I’ll even buy him a chicken sandwich.”

And Ellie didn’t even realized how relieved she was until she started laughing.


End file.
